Insurance| Management | Social Business Strategy | Saving You Money|

10/04/2011

Giving away a Million Dollars! Spreading Social Good with @AvivaCF

What would you do with 1 million dollars to promote positive change in your community?

Thats the question Aviva has asked for the past 3 years at the launch of the Aviva Community Fund Competition. Its a great question, begging to be answered, answered because when you tell them, they are ready and willing to give you a piece of that $1million to see that change through for your community.

What is interesting, however, is that I am pretty sure most people would love to have a million dollars, there are so many engaged activists out there fighting for change in thier community citing lack of funds as a reason, but as I jumped into the game as a broker, to look for someone in my area to support (Westmount) , I was hard pressed to find anyone!

"Well, wait a minute here, " I thought to myself, " I know we have an incredibly active community working on change, so where is everyone?"

I immediately started pumping out messages on Twitter and Facebook, asking people to join in and get involved - come get your million dollars! - Crickets.

So, I took it to the next level and "hit the streets" calling and emailing community groups we had heard about, or that we as a company have supported over the years, and asked them to jump into action and reach for their piece of the million, offering support.

Social Media is such an amazing tool for Social Change, we started using it to spread the word and started to see the results.

My Personal Lines Insurance staff were asked to spread the word in their day to day dealings, asking our clients if they supported any causes that might be of interest. We really wanted to find some local Westmount or Montreal groups to lend our support. After all, we are part of this community for over 85 years, naturally we want to support local initiatives.

So where is Westmount represented in all this?

As you can see by the map above, no initiatives are based in Westmount!

We continue to put out a call to local Westmount organizations. In such a community of prominent philanthropists, I am sure the causes are there, they just need to get involved and apply!

So if you have an idea, or you know of a cause we are asking you to please check out the Aviva Community Fund Then, let us know about it!

We created a hashtag on Twitter #Teamogilvy (all you need to do is tweet from your account, and include " #Teamogilvy" in your tweet to show up in our list.

After much communication, we had the honor of receiving submissions via Aviva Community Fund from the following great causes - although not in Wesmount, they are in the Montreal Area, and we are happy to offer our broker support. We encourage you to check them out, as well as the other worthy causes on the Aviva site, and please cast your votes.

You can vote every day, and the community projects that get the most votes, move on to the next round. This is really a competition driven by the people, and that is what makes it so great.

This is truly an opportunity for you to get involved and be the change you want to see in your community!

Here are some community projects that represent candidates that took steps to apply and are dedicated to community change.

<< Stop #Bullying through Peace, Love & Hope Art Project http://ow.ly/6MTVP Another great cause, that you can vote for.

It is estimated that two cats (a male and a female) can exponentially produce 400,000 kittens in seven years. Did you know that Montreal has one of the largest stray cat populations in North America? These cats live difficult lives (e.g., with disease and starvation), especially in the harsh winter months. The TNR initiative aims to reduce the number of strays by neutering and vaccinating homeless cats in a safe environment, thereby reducing their numbers through attrition.

All you have to do, if one of these interest you is click on the link to vote, help BE the change!

<<Here is a wonderful project that gives back directly to the community investing in the education of children and their overall feeling of well-being. It will help many parents and teachers make sure their kids get the things they need to do well. There is nothing more stressful than when these things that so many people consider basic, need to worry and struggle for. The kids are our future in this world, and making sure they have what they need to focus on school is so important, Share the Warmth works so hard to do this. Lets give some support! Vote here.

We also are happy to support the River House, which is being led by amazing community leaders Sean Smith @RantingIncr39 and former Montrealer, radio personality and community leader, Dave Reynolds @997Dave 10 in the beautiful Campbell River area - a natural treasure of ours, in British Columbia, Canada.

Not sure who to cast a vote for, you can start by exploring all the Ogilvy & Ogilvy supported initiatives here, click to vote for one or a few, you can vote every day!

Thank you to all those who are getting involved to drive positive change in their communities, what a wonderful competition!

Every single Canadian has a chance to make a difference, so promote your favorites through Facebook, Twitter, Google+ , email or by getting out there and sharing the news: Aviva is giving away $1 million dollars to communities in Canada for positive change, and brokers like us, are there to support you!

Comments

Very nice! It is so great to see the community get involved. Remember to support your cause, and you can also team up with other causes and support each other, what an amazing way to be the change, I hope more people will apply, and if they don't have a cause, I am sure they can find one at www.avivacommunityfund.org to support! Thanks for being the change and going for funding!